


Made with Love

by himawaridreams



Category: fault (Visual Novels)
Genre: Cooking, F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 16:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17901377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himawaridreams/pseuds/himawaridreams
Summary: Out of the goodness of her heart, Rune offers to teach Ritona how to cook. What happens next can only be described as a recipe for disaster.





	Made with Love

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Femslash February! What kind of Ritona/Rune shipper would I be if I didn't write a fic for the occasion? It's not much, but I wanted to post a little something for them! Enjoy~ :^)

_Chop chop chop chop chop._

The brisk, methodical chopping of a knife always put Rune at ease. Ever since receiving instruction from Mil and experiencing firsthand how fun it could be, an acute interest in cooking sparked inside of her. She was still a bit embarrassed at how she perceived her to be a “monster” thanks to her insane chopping speed, but she supposed it couldn’t be helped. Anyone would have been taken aback at her inhuman motor skills. Ritona, for one, was a perfect example of that.

“R-Rune, don’t you think that you’re going too fast?”

Casting an inquisitive glance down at the result of her handiwork, Rune hummed, shrugging her shoulders. The cuts were somewhat rough around the edges, sure, but in terms of efficiency… it was clear that she had greatly improved. 

“No, I think this is fine!” Rune chirped back, setting her knife aside to wipe sweat from her brow. Inclining her head toward her, she beamed. “Would you care to give it a try, Ritona?”

Eyebrows shooting up in astonishment, Ritona pointed incredulously to herself. “ _Me_? No, no, I’m certainly not cut out for what kitchen work entails.”

Mulling over the myriad miscellanies that could have made her shy away from the kitchen, Rune drew a blank. There  _were_ some implications that she wasn’t the most functional young teen, but… did that apply here, too? If that was the case, she would mentor her to the best of her ability. Mil would probably be ecstatic knowing that her love for cooking was being passed down from person to person like this. That thought was enough to spur her into action.

“That’s not true! Heck, even I believed cooking was completely lost on me until Mil showed me the ropes!” Rune encouraged, clenching her fists in the air in a demonstration of determination, “If I can do it, so can you! Let me just… teach you!”

The stress in Ritona’s stance seemed to slide away, her posture slipping into more of a relaxed position. Rolling her shoulders back, she cracked her knuckles in a preliminary warm-up, prepping herself physically and mentally for the culinary training.

“If you insist,” she replied, stepping up to the counter beside her. “I’m in your capable hands, Rune.” 

_C-Capable? She legitimately thinks that I’m capable?_

Cheeks flushing slightly from the compliment, Rune carefully picked up the knife to hand it to Ritona, taking note to point the handle toward her so she wouldn’t cut herself. She was aware that the chances of Ritona accidentally cutting her finger on a kitchen knife were minuscule, but… it was better safe than sorry. Just the thought of a bead of blood on her finger was too much to bear!

Grabbing the handle of the knife with practiced ease, Ritona turned her attention to the cutting board, hovering the blade above an unsliced carrot. She took a deep breath, blowing out through her nostrils. Then, without further ado, she nicked the exterior of the carrot, stopping before she could slice it completely. 

As she was typical of doing, Rune opened her mouth before her brain could provide input. “Are you nervous?”

Mortification set in a moment too late after those words left her mouth. How could she have said something so insensitive and thoughtless!? Now she was probably going to cut ties (no pun intended) with her! If only she hadn’t been born such a stupid, flighty airhead!

Before she could bash her head repeatedly with the cutting board, Ritona piped up, “I guess that you could say that. Flora tried to teach me how to cook when I was younger, and the result… hardly qualified as food, let alone something edible.”

This confession came as a startling revelation to Rune, who fixed her with a spacey stare. Ritona, the girl who she thought could surmount any task without breaking a sweat, hopeless at cooking? How inconceivable! 

“Y-You must be joking, right? There’s no way that you couldn’t succeed at cooking something edible!” 

Rubbing the back of her neck, Ritona blushed bashfully at her disbelief. “Please, not everything is a cinch to me. The closest I’ve ever come to cooking was when I boiled an egg in the palm of my hand with pyrokravte when I was 14… and even that wasn’t regular cooking.”

“…You…” her pupils growing wide as saucers, she shrieked, “…You did  _what_!? Ritona, don’t you dare make it seem like you aren’t anything short of amazing, all right!? How many people can boil an egg in the palm of their hand!?”

“Plenty of people could if they tried! It’s nothing extraordinary,” she countered.

Rolling her eyes, Rune put her hands on her hips, personally offended by her dismissive attitude. Against her will, she opened her blabbermouth for the umpteenth time to say something embarrassing. “Yeah, yeah… ‘Nothing extraordinary’, huh? I would love to be half as amazing as you!”

Wanting to wrest the knife out of Ritona’s hands to cut out her tongue (would that even be possible as an automaton?), she screamed internally at her incurable awkwardness. Why couldn’t she be as smooth and suave as Ri–  _gaaah, she did it again!_

Her mental mayhem was brought to an abrupt halt by the rare treat of Ritona’s laugh. “Come on, now, let’s be perfectly honest here: the most impressive between us two is  _you_. Must I remind you of how lifted all that ship cargo in mere minutes, or how you snatched every single one of those coins I threw at you effortlessly? That doesn’t even begin to illustrate the difference between you and me!”

This compliment caused her cheeks to redden involuntarily, her entire face feeling hot. Gulping down the lump in her throat, she blurted back, “Nuh uh! If that was the case, why is it that you’re so much more attractive than me!? I’m a plain Jane compared to you!”

Ritona seemed to be caught off guard by Rune’s secret weapon, dropping the knife she was holding in her surprise. The dull  _thump_ of the knife hitting the table replicated that of their thumping hearts.

“Wh-What?” Ritona stuttered– actually  _stuttered!_ – slowly turning around to face Rune. “Could you repeat yourself? Surely you couldn’t have said what I thought you just said.”

Waving her hands around in the air in a vain effort to dismiss her (correct) assumption, Rune giggled nervously. She thanked her lucky stars that she wasn’t holding any kitchen utensil right now, for it would have slipped out of her sweaty grip. “N-No, I assure you that you  _proooobably_  misheard me, Ritona! Lots of people mistake some things for another in a conversation! Yup, that’s definitely what happened! Yup, yup, yuppers!”

“Are you… sure?” Ritona questioned, almost sounding dejected. 

_Wait… **dejected**?_

The possibility that she could have inadvertently made Ritona sad plowed into her like a freight train. Immediately shifting into damage control, she ditched her common sense and grabbed her by the shoulders, leaning dangerously close to her flabbergasted face. Then, she boldly declared–

“Actually, no! I’m not sure!”

Blinking, Ritona stared back at her in befuddlement. “Ex… Excuse me?”

“The truth is…” taking a breath through her nostrils for courage, Rune exclaimed, “…I think that you’re really attractive! Incredibly so! It should be a crime that you’re so attractive, okay!?”

The silence that followed her outburst was deafening. Both of them were locked in a staring contest, not daring to make the most marginal movement. They could have remained in that state for the foreseeable future, had it not been for Ritona coughing, hurriedly averting her eyes. Rune couldn’t help admiring how even when evading eye contact, her magenta irises still didn’t lose their radiance.

“I’m flattered that you think of me that way, but… it’s just…” she bit her bottom lip, lifting her gaze to meet Rune’s with newfound bravado. “…Truth be told, I’m not well-accustomed to having someone be so straightforward with me. At least, not in such a welcomed manner. It’s refreshing– refreshingly  _Rune_.”

“A-Ah… I see!” Rune responded reflexively, as far away from “seeing” anything as could be. Suddenly becoming acutely aware of their close proximity, she reeled her hands back as if they were burned, her face burning with equal intensity. “S-Sorry! I’m not sure what came over me! I, um… I–!”

Before she could dig herself a deeper hole of self-deprecation, Ritona hushed her with a finger over her lips. How calloused her fingertip was quieted her more than the gesture itself.

“Good grief, do you ever know when to stop apologizing, Rune?” she teased, removing her finger from her lips. “If you’re feeling particularly sorry, why don’t you make it up to me?”

Rune quirked an eyebrow at this suggestion. “Make it up to you…? What do you mean?”

Absolutely  _nothing_ could have prepared her for what came next. Not even increasing the frame rate of her eyes to 20,000 FPS.

“Kiss me.”

_H-HUH!?_

There was no way. This had to be some crazy scenario that she was hallucinating, right? Maybe she hadn’t been receiving the recommended amount of sleep at night. What if she was starting to shut down? Did she somehow ignore the signs and symptoms of an abnormality?

_Oh, geez… I’m **REALLY** in trouble now, aren’t I…!? Rudo, Albas, everyone… I’m sorry for not taking care of myself better…!_

Contrary to her premature prediction of an imminent shutdown, nothing happened. There were no size distortions of her surroundings, no sudden blackout, and  _definitely_  no melodramatic death. It was as quiet and peaceful as it could be. Well, at least excluding the current conundrum before her.

Oblivious to Rune’s inner conflict, Ritona’s eyes twinkled mirthfully, peeking at her from behind her eyelashes. Rune gulped.

“What’s your answer?”

Despite her fight or flight reaction screaming at her to flee, Rune found herself rooted in place. She was inexplicably overcome with an irrepressible desire to venture outside of her comfort zone. With Ritona’s lips beckoning her to come closer, she took a step forward, unwavering conviction the foundation beneath her feet. 

“There’s only one answer to your question,” she responded with a soft smile, placing a hand on the small of her back and reining her in. “I’d love to kiss you, Ritona.”

Closing the distance between them, Rune savored a tastier treat than any delicacy that could have been prepared in the kitchen.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Remember, you can buy my silence permanently by releasing StP! Also... HMU on Tumblr @ ritzyvhasta if you are in the mood for more fault content. :^)


End file.
